95 Rockets vs. 01 Lakers

[zoom17]

01 Lakers.

[ArbitraryWater]

Nice spin--the 2001 Lakers (along with the 1995 Rockets) are one of the few teams in history to beat four 50 win teams en route to a title. Four 50-win teams and they smoked them all.

The Rocket's competition was tougher, but not tough enough to justify how perilously close they came to getting bounced in the first and second rounds. They were rather fortunate, actually.

Ohh Kobe stans with their "records" again... Records would also lead you to believe the 2008-2010 competition was superior than 2012-2014... Different times & Teams.

2001 consisted of the broken down Blazers, catching the Kings right before their Peak, and a Spurs Team that was all Duncan and nothing else. (Similar to LeBron, carrying a Team to great regular season success, but come Playoff time the cast gets exposed.)




BTW: 2001 Lakers in 5 or 6

[millwad]

You're underselling the shit out of Shaq's competition, making it out to be like he beat no good players. Robinson finished in the top 10 in MVP voting that year, while Mutombo won DPOY and made the All-NBA 2nd team. Sabonis & Divac are far from scrubs either

Put a 36 year old Sabonis, Divac and a 34 year old Mutombo in the '95 season and they'd be way behind the likes of:

Olajuwon
Shaq
Ewing
Robinson
Mourning


Then you have bigs like Divac, Mutombo, Coleman, Smits, Radja, Willis etc..


Sabonis was busted up in '01, he averaged 10 points on 48% shooting while grabbing 5 rebounds per game.

Divac in '95 was even a better player then what he was in '01, by that time he had slowed down and he averaged 12 points on 48% shooting and 8 rebounds per game.

Then we have Mutombo who was 34 and who only played played 26 games for Philly before the playoffs. Mutombo averged 12 points on 50% shooting while grabbing 12 rebounds per game.

That is weak competition if anything.

[ThePhantomCreep]

Ohh Kobe stans with their "records" again... Records would also lead you to believe the 2008-2010 competition was superior than 2012-2014... Different times & Teams.

2001 consisted of the broken down Blazers, catching the Kings right before their Peak, and a Spurs Team that was all Duncan and nothing else. (Similar to LeBron, carrying a Team to great regular season success, but come Playoff time the cast gets exposed.)




BTW: 2001 Lakers in 5 or 6

A bunch of bullshit excuses, what else is new? The Heat's top conference opponent during their reign was the George/Hibbert Pacers, their competition was a joke compared to what the 2001 and 2008-2010 Lakers faced.

2001 Lakers in 6.

[ArbitraryWater]

Thing is, they were still the League's best Team... Put the 08-10 Lakers in the 2014 West, they would just be another contender among Spurs/Thunder/Clippers/Warriors..

[Mr Exlax]

I think the Lakers. Hakeem and Shaq would be a wash. Prime Shaq is unstoppable, but Prime Hakeem is unstoppable by Shaq at least. Then there's Kobe to put them over the top.

[millwad]

I think the Lakers. Hakeem and Shaq would be a wash. Prime Shaq is unstoppable, but Prime Hakeem is unstoppable by Shaq at least. Then there's Kobe to put them over the top.

Kobe in '01 is obviously better than what Drexler was in '95 but Rockets has an edge when it comes to the rest of the roster.

'95 version of Horry was easily better than Grant and his '01 version.
Fox was slightly better than Elie.
The combo of Smith and Cassell is better than Fisher and Shaw.

And one thing is sure, no team the Lakers faced would beat the '95 Rockets.

[Real14]

[Mr Exlax]

Kobe in '01 is obviously better than what Drexler was in '95 but Rockets has an edge when it comes to the rest of the roster.

'95 version of Horry was easily better than Grant and his '01 version.
Fox was slightly better than Elie.
The combo of Smith and Cassell is better than Fisher and Shaw.

And one thing is sure, no team the Lakers faced would beat the '95 Rockets.

You might be right, but fuhk you anyway nikka

[millwad]

You might be right, but fuhk you anyway nikka

Ok.

[TheMarkMadsen]

Ohh Kobe stans with their "records" again... Records would also lead you to believe the 2008-2010 competition was superior than 2012-2014... Different times & Teams.

2001 consisted of the broken down Blazers, catching the Kings right before their Peak, and a Spurs Team that was all Duncan and nothing else. (Similar to LeBron, carrying a Team to great regular season success, but come Playoff time the cast gets exposed.)




BTW: 2001 Lakers in 5 or 6

Trying way too hard.

[Mr Exlax]

Ok.

Shit I thought it said Millbuck. I'm drunk.

[fsvr54]

Lakers in 5, maybe 6.

Hakeem isn't going to shut down the '01 version of Shaq.

Shaq ain't shutting down Hakeem either though.

[SexSymbol]

Olajuwon would probably outplay shaq or be at least equal to him
Meanwhile Kobe would destroy Drexler.
Rest are irrelevant

[ILLsmak]

You guys are definitely overrating the '01 Lakers.

First of all, they faced weak competition, the Rockets played against better competition and Olajuwon faced way tougher opponents on the center position.

While Olajuwon outplayed prime Robinson and a very good Shaq, Shaq outplayed 34 year old Mutombo, old ass Robinson and Divac. And not only did the the Lakers face bad centers, they also faced pretty bad teams, no teams over 60 wins.

And don't underrate the '95 version of Shaq, he was probably a harder match-up for Olajuwon than what the 2001 version would be, much faster and more athletic.

yabut tons of teams have faced weak comp. Look at the Heat. They even lost to 'weak comp.'

The 15-1 Lakers are one insane fluke game away from being perfect. Now, does that mean they were the GOAT team... I don't think so. Do they beat 95 Rockets? Who knows...

but in terms of that accomplishment, it's like winning 70 games to me.

Also: Shaq himself said he took it easy on Hakeem in 95, physically. If the refs let Shaq play vs him like he did vs Mutombo, it would get ugly.

-Smak